There are a variety of tape dispensing devices available designed to facilitate withdrawing the tape and severing it and some of these are provided with finger rcesses or the like to enable grasping the holder as the tape is withdrawn such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,762,261; 2,309,396; 3,494,020; 3,134,526; 2,572,245 and 3,186,892. In all of these prior devices there are at most fingertip receiving recesses or openings and these are located in such positions that the tape dispenser cannot be held on the back of the hand in an out of the way position so as to free the hands for manipulating the severed tape and/or holding the work to which it is to be applied, nor are these recesses or openings so located as to enable obtaining a firm and rigid grip on the dispenser to facilitate tearing off the tape. The purpose of this invention is to provide a dispenser which can be firmly held without interfering with complete freedom of the hand on which the dispenser is supported for use in holding and applying the tape.